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15 Sep 2018

Kidnapped businessman reveal how Evans inject him after his gang shot him

A kidnap victim, James Uduji, on Friday told a Lagos High Court sitting in Igbosere that the alleged billionaire kidnap kingpin, Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike, aka Evans, gave him tetanus injections for seven days to treat the gun wounds he sustained during the abduction.

Uduji, a businessman, also told the court that Evans drove the Lexus 470 SUV in which he was abducted on September 7, 2015 by four armed men on his way home from his factory at Agbara, Ogun State.

He made the revelation while giving evidence at the commencement of trial of Evans before Justice Adedayo Akintoye.

Evans is currently facing two separate charges, bordering on conspiracy to kidnap, kidnapping and attempted murder, before the judge.

Evans is standing trial alongside Joseph Emeka, Ugochukwu Nwachukwu and Victor Aduba in the first charge. In the second charge, he is standing trial alongside Joseph Emeka, Linus Okpara and Victor Aduba.

At the resumed trial, Uduji told the court that the incident happened close to his house on 7th Avenue, FESTAC Town, Lagos.

Uduji said the kidnappers were driving a Lexus 470 SUV at the time of the incident and that they fired several gunshots during the operation.

The witness said he was surprised to see men shooting at that point, adding that he thought they were policemen.

He said, “I was inside my Hilux van with my two drivers when the men came and pulled me out of my vehicle and dragged me inside their own vehicle.

“I was not blindfolded at this point, so I saw the men clearly and the man at the steering with a gun was Evans. He is the only one I can recognise among the four.”

The witness also said that when he was dragged out of his vehicle, he noticed that he was stained with blood.

“I then realised I sustained bullet wounds,” he said.

Uduji said the kidnappers later called a doctor on the telephone who treated his bullet wound at their destination.

He stated that he was given two tetanus injections for seven days, adding that Evans was the so-called doctor, who treated him.

The businessman said he spent a total of 45 days in the kidnappers’ den before he was released following the payment of $1.2m (about N400m) as ransom.

Uduji told the court that the $1.2m ransom was paid by his family in three instalments, adding that he was released eight days after the ransom was paid.

Also testifying as a witness, one of Uduji’s drivers, Mr. Jerome Ugoeze, told the court that he was equally shot in the attack.

He said after being shot, he pretended to be dead while his boss was whisked away by the kidnappers.

The driver said some Good Samaritans later came to his rescue and took him to a hospital.

Further proceedings in the trial have been adjourned till Monday, September 17.

Uduji was, however, cross-examined by the defence counsel, including Mr. Olarewaju Ajanaku, who represented Evans.

Ajanaku said the specific date when Uduji was released from the kidnappers was not mentioned in the statement which the witness made at the police station.

He also said the date which the businessman testified that he made the statement at the police station did not tally with the date in the body of the statement.